The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education race is finally over, but two of the candidates who lost said Wednesday that they're not conceding.

By Jamon SmithStaff Writer | The Tuscaloosa News

The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education race is finally over, but two of the candidates who lost said Wednesday that they're not conceding.Denise Hills, who lost the board chair race to Lee Garrison by 203 votes — or 2 percent of the 8,627 votes cast in the race — said she won't concede until the provisional ballots are counted by the Tuscaloosa County Board of Registrars and the official election totals are released Tuesday.“We're just looking at things until we're satisfied that 203 is truly accurate,” Hills said.District 4 incumbent Kelly Horwitz, who lost to Cason Kirby, the 2008-09 University of Alabama Student Government Association president, by 72 votes, or 10 percent of the 726 votes cast in that race, said she won't concede until an attorney examines whether any laws were broken by voters in the district.“I'm trying to better explore my options,” Horwitz said. “Right now I'm awaiting a phone call from an attorney so that I can better understand the process from here and whatever evidence would be required to pursue further remedies. I'm not conceding until I've had those conversations and can make an informed decision.”Ken Smith, executive director of the Alabama League of Municipalities, said Wednesday the burden of proof in challenging election results falls on the person bringing the challenge. And the legal obstacles to a successful challenge are formidable, he said.“It's kind of difficult to do, because you have to have actual physical evidence of votes that weren't counted or left out,” he said.Smith said the challenger also has to show there were enough illegally counted or ignored votes to actually change the outcome.ALLEGATIONS RAISEDBoth candidates, especially Horwitz, said they're concerned about a number of actions involving UA students that could have impacted the election results. The actions in question are: -- Stretch limousines and a large bus seen on sorority row Tuesday taking students to the polls to vote. -- Students in a sorority allegedly being told in an email how important it was to elect Garrison and Kirby and being offered free alcoholic beverages at two bars if they voted. -- Eleven students in a fraternity listing 42 University Circle in District 4 as their place of residence on voter registration forms between June 22 and Aug. 16. The city's zoning ordinance prohibits more than two unrelated people from living in the same home in an historic district.“One of the reasons I'm looking at all the legal implications is not about changing the election outcome,” Horwitz said. “I'm all about good government. ... From what I've looked at, it looks like there's serious questions about whether the law was broken. ... Illegalities in elections can't go on in the future. It's not a prank, it's criminal activity.”Hills said she's not sure if the allegations are true but that they need to be investigated.“If it is true — and I don't know that it is — that any group was essentially being bribed to vote, I don't think that's right, regardless of who they were being told to vote for,” Hills said.BAR RESPONDSTripp Rogers, one of the owners of Innisfree Irish Pub, said the bar on University Boulevard was contacted before the election by someone who wanted to set up a tab to provide drinks for those who voted. His understanding of the proposal was patrons with “I Voted” stickers would receive a free drink on a tab set up by the caller.Rogers said Wednesday he did not know who contacted the bar. He said the pub was initially open to working out an arrangement and had planned to meet with the organizer to work out a plan. “People do private parties all the time,” Rogers said. “We didn't think anything of it at the time.”But before a deal could be finalized, Rogers said the pub was contacted on Monday by officers from Alabama Beverage Control, who informed the business it could not set up a tab for voters. Rogers said after consulting with the ABC on Tuesday, the owners declined to open the tab Tuesday night.Staff at Moe's Original Barbecue on University Boulevard on Wednesday reported a similar request for a tab but said the eatery did not open a tab and provide drinks.EMAIL CHARGESMeanwhile, UA law professor Paul Horwitz, husband of Kelly Horwitz, sent the University of Alabama Faculty Senate an email expressing his frustrations about some of the circumstances surrounding the election.In the email, Paul Horwitz said he thought several laws and campus rules were broken by students. He was especially critical of the 'Machine,' a secret society composed of more than 20 traditionally white fraternities and sororities that have dominated campus politics and influenced local and state politics for nearly a century.“It is difficult to talk about an organization that takes such a lack of pride in itself that it continues to deny its very existence — while, every now and again, sending out one or two people to explain to the press that it's really not a big deal. I suppose if it didn't exist, it would by definition not be a big deal! But it does and it is. Its conduct yesterday (Tuesday) was atrocious and illegal, and it besmirched the university — all of it, including its faculty and leadership — every bit as much as it did itself. ...,” he wrote.Horwitz said the Faculty Senate should make it a priority to fight the “corruption” of the system.He also questioned the credibility of the university's leadership for backing one of the school board candidates. Both University of Alabama President Judith Bonner and UA System Chancellor Robert Witt contributed $500 to Garrison's campaign. READ THE FULL EMAIL HEREREACTION TO RACEGarrison and Kirby received considerably more money for their campaigns than Hills and Horwitz, but neither challenger blamed the outcome on money.As of Aug. 26, Garrison received about $73,200 in campaign contributions and Hills about $6,800 as Aug. 23.Kirby's total campaign contributions as of Aug. 23 was about $20,000, and Horwitz's total contributions was about $7,200 as of the same date.Hills won five of the seven districts in the race but lost badly in districts 3 and 4. “I am incredibly impressed with the turnout for a municipal election,” Hills said. “I'm not really sure why I lost. I apparently didn't reach a segment of the voters that I needed to reach. My biggest loss was in District 3. Unfortunately, I didn't spend as much time in District 3 as I should have. They may have felt that their concerns weren't as important to me, but their message is important to me.”Hills received 467 votes in District 3, 23 percent of the 2,001 total votes cast in the district. In District 4, which covers UA and the surrounding neighborhoods, Hills received 191 out of 672 votes, or 28 percent of the vote.“I knew that District 4 would probably go to Mr. Garrison,” Hills said. “It is his home district, and he's done a lot of work in there. People know him as the city councilman of District 4.”Horwitz said that overall, she feels good about her campaign and her service on the school board. But if she's truly lost this election, she doesn't plan on running for school board again. “I've done my service and there's a lot of other things that I want to do in my personal and professional life,” Horwitz said.Hills said her involvement in education isn't ended and the possibility of a future run for school board isn't out of the question.“You will be seeing me at school board meetings just like you have in the past four or five years,” Hills said. “Me speaking for the children in the city is not going to change whether that's me being on the board or an active parent.”